Who doesn’t love a good love story? I know I do. So, when I was invited to participate in a virtual tasting and sampling of the C. Elizabeth Game Farm Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, I eagerly accepted. The call featured C. Elizabeth Co-Founders Christi and Dave Ficeli, and winemaker Bill Nancarrow. It was moderated by indefatigable Sommelier Chris Sawyer.

About C. Elizabeth

C. Elizabeth Wines is a passion project of wine industry veterans Dave Ficeli and Christi Coors Ficeli. For the better part of two decades Dave has shared his talent for marketing, sales, production and management working for various brand and wineries. Most recently he served as General Manager overseeing production for Jackson Family Wines (Napa Valley and Carneros brands). Christi is a scion of beer magnate Adolph Coor. She started her career in the wine industry at E&J Gallo. It was there she meet Dave.

After the couple met, they settled in the Napa Valley. They dreamed of creating something special – a legacy to be shared with those they love the most. In 2013, Chrisi came a step closer to manifesting their dream when she acquired and restored Goosecross Cellars a boutique winery in Napa. As part of her revitalization of Goosecross, she hired winemaker Bill Nancarrow.

The C. Elizabeth project is the realization of the couple’s dream to create a lasting legacy. It is named after three generations of “Elizabeths” on Christi’s side of the family, each one in her own way manifest strength of character and confidence, while defying convention (or as Dave so eloquently put it were “respectfully irreverent”.

With Nancarrow’s help they found Game Farm Vineyard, which is nestled in the heart of Oakville. The vineyard is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon on an the old Rector Creek bed. The vineyard has two distinct blocks. The “Rock Pit” block is named for its lack of topsoil and abundance of large rocks, reminiscent of the rocky vineyards seen the the Rhone Valley’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The “Trailside” block is also rocky, but its red loam topsoil adds a distinctive dimension the C. Elizabeth wines.

For the first two vintage fruit was sourced solely from the Rock Pit block, the next two vintages were sourced from both blocks.

The Virtual Tasting

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What piqued my wine geek curiosity about this tasting is that the C. Elizabeth wines are raised in American Oak. That’s atypical, especially for the Napa Valley. What’s difference between Cabernet Sauvignon raised in American Oak vs French Oak?. I don’t know enough about it to explain the differences, but according to this article, “French oak has more tannins, while American oak is more aromatic with sweeter tastes of vanilla and coconut,” says Chris Hansen, general manager of the Napa Valley workshop for French barrel maker Seguin Moreau. The cooperage produces barrels for the American market with wood from both countries.

What I do know is that I’m a huge fan of Ridge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, including the world-class Monte Bello bottling, which are raised in American oak.

We discussed four vintages of the wine from the inaugural 2014 bottling to the newest 2017 vintage (just releasing).  During the program, Christi, Dave and Bill will shared, their story, talked about the distinctive terroir of the Game Farm Vineyard, and meticulous viticultural and winemaking practices. In particular, it was great to learn about their barrel program experiments, which include Pennsylvania and Missouri oak from select cooperages. The Pennsylvania barrels are created using unconventional small pore, water bent staves.

Disclosure: These wines were provided to me as a media samples. I received no compensation for this post, and all opinions presented are my own.

My tasting notes follow:

• 2014 C. Elizabeth Cabernet Sauvignon Game Farm Vineyard Oakville – USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
  Nearly opaque garnet with lifted black and red currant, black cherry, leather, mint, violet, black licorice, dried herb and a bit of cacao aromas. On the palate it’s medium-bodied with medium acidity and velvety well-integrated tannins and black cherry, red and black currant, a hint of ripe blackberry, licorice, cacao and vanilla spice flavors with a long finish.
  
  100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Rock Pit block in the Game Farm Vineyard in the Oakville AVA. Raised in American Oak; 55% new oak, 45% neutral for 21 months. 14.5% abv|$SRP – 125|Cases produced (92 pts.)
• 2015 C. Elizabeth Cabernet Sauvignon Game Farm Vineyard Oakville – USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
  Nearly opaque garnet with exuberant cassis, violet, tobacco, cacao, licorice and low-key dill aromas. On the palate it’s medium-bodied and a bit richer than the ’14 with velvety tannins and cassis, black cherry, fig, and vanilla spice flavors with a long finish.
  
  100% Cabernet Sauviginon from the Rock Pit block of the Game Farm Vineyards in the Oakville AVA. Raised in American Oak; 57% new, 43% neutral for 21 months. 14.5% abv|SRP – $125|185 cases (91 pts.)
• 2016 C. Elizabeth Cabernet Sauvignon Game Farm Vineyard Oakville – USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
  Translucent ruby/garnet with very appealing black cherry, red currant, plum, licorice violet, cigar box, and baking spice aromas. On the palate, it’s medium-full-bodied seamless, and fresh with suave tannins and red currant, plum black cherry, bittersweet chocolate, and a kiss of dried herb flavor with a long finish.
  
  100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Rock Pit and Trailside blocks of the Game Farm Vineyard. Raised in American Oak; 85% new, 15% neutral for 21 months. 14.5% abv|SRP – $150|212 cases produced (93 pts.)
• 2017 C. Elizabeth Cabernet Sauvignon Game Farm Vineyard Oakville – USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
  Nearly opaque garnet with black and red currant, violets, plum, leather, dried savory spice, and red licorice aromas. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied, and fresh with fine-grained sweet tannins and red currant, black cherry, red plum, and cacao flavors with an appealing bit of savoriness. Long finish.
  
  100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Rock Pit and Trailside blocks of the Game Farm Vineyard in the Oakville AVA. Raised in American Oak; 30% new, 70% neutral for 21 months. 14.8% abv|SRP – $150|244 cases produced. Approachable now with decant, but needs time. (91 pts.)

These are compelling, distinctive, and delicious wines that are welcome at my table anytime!

Once I learned the story behind C. Elizabeth, I was inspired to do my first wine and song pairing. For it truly is, “All About Love” for the Ficeli’s – Love for each other, family and love of their community.

Inspired by their love and gratitude for their Napa Valley community, and wanting to take action to make a difference in the community so adversely impacted by 2017 and 2020 wildfires, C. Elizabeth Co-Founders Christi and Dave Ficeli decided to “give ’till it hurts.”  From now until March 15, the will donate 50% of all sales of the 2017 C. Elizabeth Game Farm Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon to the Napa Valley Community Foundation, which provides emergency assistance to Napa Valley individuals and families affected by the fires and Covid-19.